81st Airmobile Brigade. Born to be “Cyborgs”

Foundation

This is the new brigade formed during the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in the autumn of 2014. It includes soldiers from different regions of Ukraine partially composed from the servicemen of the 95th Airmobile Brigade and the 25th Airborne Brigade.

Garrison Location: Druzhkivka, Donetsk region.

Combat path in the war in eastern Ukraine

Late November 2014 – January 2015: Defense of the Donetsk airport and the surrounding areas.

Heroes of Ukraine:

Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov (posthumously awarded by the Decree of the President of Ukraine from 09.06.2015).

Formed less than a year ago, the 81st Airmobile Brigade has gained a reputation of a highly professional unit, which could perform tasks under the most difficult combat conditions. Soldiers of the 81st Airmobile Brigade, along with the other regiments of the Ukrainian Army, heroically defended the Donetsk Airport between November 2014 and January 2015.

81-2

The whole country was following the news from the military heroes that came to be known as “Cyborgs” for their courage and seeming invulnerability to repeated attempts of Russian-backed militants to seize the position. The whole world admired the force of resistance of Ukrainian paratroopers. One of them – Lieutenant Ivan Zubkov – was posthumously awarded with the title of the Hero of Ukraine for exceptional courage, heroism and sacrifice, demonstrated during the battles for Donetsk airport and defense of independence and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.